Student abused, made to wait two hours on road for his licence
The number plate on the cop's bike from which a letter and a digit were missing.
BENGALURU: “Look at you? You look like a ‘porkie’ who comes from other states and settle down in the city. Areas like Horamavu, Kammanahalli, Hennur are filled with people like you, who come here and create nuisance. Go away from here and come to me only when you have money to give me and take away your licence.” These were the remarks allegedly made by two traffic policemen after they flagged down a biker, a student at a city college, on Saturday morning.
The incident took place near Kaggadaspura Main Road around 11.30 am. The victim has been identified as Jacob (20), a resident of Babusapalya and a native of Kerala. He was stopped by two policemen and made to wait on road for over two hours. They let him go only after taking bribe. They penalised him for missing numerals on his number plate, though ironically the bike used by the cops too had a similar defect!
Recalling his ordeal Jacob told Deccan Chronicle, “I was on my way to Vignananagar from Old Madras Road. These two policemen stopped me near Kaggadasapura Main Road. They asked me to park my bike and show them the documents, which I did. Since they could not find any fault with the papers, they asked for my DL and one of them promptly put it in his pocket. Then the other policeman noticed the new paint and the missing sticker on my bike’s number plate and began harassing me.”
When Jacob tried to reason with the cops, they allegedly passed derogatory remarks. Jacob said, “When I asked for my licence, a constable named Nanjundappa, stared at me and said, ‘Look at you. How you look? What kind of clothes are you wearing? Where are you from?’ When I told that I am from Kerala, his tone became harsher. He began abusing me and said, ‘Look at you? You look like a Porkie, who come from other states to settle down in the city. Areas like Horamavu, Kammanahalli, Hennur is filled with people like you who come here and create nuisance. Go away from here and come to me only when you have money to give me and take away your licence.”
The alleged harassment didn’t there. When Jacob asked them to return his licence, the two cops asked him to shell out Rs 2,000 and took away the licence and headed towards SCT College. “The cop gave me his number and told me to call him when I have '2,000 to pay as the fine for ‘altering’ my bike. They even told me that if I did not leave, they will impound my bike.” I pleaded with them, “Sir, you can take my bike but please return my licence, but they did not listen.”
Later while Jacob was following the policemen he was shocked to see that their bike too had improper registration plate. “A letter and a digit were missing on the number plate (K**3-EH-5698). The duo didn’t pay any heed to my repeated requests and carried on with their routine checking near SCT College. Just then the cops caught a goods vehicle, which was plying without documents. The driver didn’t even have a licence, but was let off. One of the cops opened the rear door of the vehicle and took out a 500 gm pack of ghee, put in his bike and let the driver go,” Jacob said.
The victim was finally let off by the cops after he pleaded with them that he could pay only '300. The cops reportedly took the money, raised a violation for '100 and pocketed the remaining sum.
DCP assures to take action
When Deccan Chronicle reported the matter to DCP (Traffic-East), Chandrashekar K Babu, he took immediate note of the complaint and told this newspaper, “After DC brought the matter to my notice, I have spoken to the victim and assured him that appropriate action will be initiated against the erring cops, if found guilty. I have asked the victim to visit my office on Monday and give a written statement following which a detailed inquiry will be conducted.”
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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